Cinemasterworks: George Lucas Hates You

(Full Disclosure: I loved the original Star Wars films as a kid. I can be objective and see their flaws now as an adult, but they still have a place in my heart.)

Okay, most of us liked The Force Awakens. We saw it, we were like "Cool," and we got on with our lives.

But not so fast!

We are currently experiencing the backlash and it's a tidal wave. Everyone's pissing all over Force Awakens now. Honeymoon's over.

I saw this coming. Everyone was TOO excited about this movie. Everyone set their expectations TOO high. Everyone seemed to forget that we've been smacked with THREE nearly-unwatchable Star Wars films in a row.

Disaster was imminent. People were setting themselves up for the biggest letdown in history that they were gonna kvetch about endlessly on Facebook.

But then the movie came out. And it seemed I was wrong.

Everyone was being positive about it. The warmth and nostalgia were palpable in the air. Almost no one spoiled the ending online. The Internet- a toxic place full of complaints and nitpicks about everything- somehow seemed to be giving this movie a pass. It was surreal.

I saw it a week after it came out- to avoid the crowds- and had fun with it. Enjoyed it the same way I enjoyed the last few Fast and/or Furious movies. It was brain candy, transparently giving the audience what it wanted. And that was fine. 

I stand behind this opinion. Credits rolled, I was smiling, and I was content never to see it again.

But I've noticed that some of my friends who really liked it at first seem to be hating it the most now. And almost every new negative online analysis has a tone of wounded betrayal. People are seriously angry at this movie for manipulating them and tricking them into thinking it was good. Of all the things to be angry about in this world, they're raging against a movie that just tried to entertain them and make them happy for a couple hours.

And here's an interesting historical fact for you- Phantom Menace was actually pretty positively received before the backlash hit and it became violently hated.

Force Awakens seems to be going the same way.

Force Awakens is a flawed film. But oddly, it's flawed in the same way as the original Star Wars. Both films have the same generic Hero's Journey plot. Both have the same basic characters. Both have the same story beats. Both are big dumb effects-driven blockbusters. Both tap into primal mythology. And both are engineered to manipulate fans.

And that brings me to the difference between A New Hope and Force Awakens.

The difference is that J.J. Abrams doesn't hate the material. He loves it. He wants you to enjoy the ride. George Lucas did not feel the same way about the Star Wars films he made. Messed up as it is, Abrams cares more about Star Wars than the man who invented it.

This may sound inflammatory- especially in light of his recent interview where he sounded fiercely protective about his creation- but George Lucas has been overtly and covertly expressing his contempt for the galaxy-far-far-away saga right from the start.

And I'm not even talking about his endless second-guessing or digital tweaking of the original trilogy. And I'm not talking about the legacy-tarnishing impact of his prequels. I'm talking about his attitude toward the films right from the start.

Reliable sources who knew Lucas back in the day said he made Star Wars sarcastically. According to the book Harlan Ellison's Watching, Ellison heard Lucas admit in 1977 that he was deliberately making a dumb film. Lucas'  primary goal with Star Wars was to prove how easy it is to manipulate audiences.

And he was right! We were manipulated! Still are! The movie resonates, despite its flaws. It works on a deep mythological level, because Lucas understands mythology.

But make no mistake- Lucas made Star Wars with contempt for his audience. Even after the success of American Graffiti, he was still bitter that his most personal film- the hard-hitting THX-1138- was unsuccessful.

He never got over this, either. Lucas did an interview in 2005 where he made his feelings on the Star Wars saga pretty transparent. He felt trapped by it. He says what he really wanted to make were experimental films like THX-1138 and was angry that no one was interested in them.

(Since Lucas finished Revenge of the Sith over a decade ago, it would be tempting to do a Stewie-style taunt and ask how his new experimental films are coming along, but that would be mean. So let's not.)

But let's be honest in our assessment of Lucas' work. He did a pretty solid job with a very limited budget and limited control on the first Star Wars and he wisely stepped back and let other people take  more creative control on his next two films.

And when Lucas was given unlimited money and unlimited creative control, he made...Phantom Menace. That tells you everything you need to know about the man. He had nothing to prove and he didn't care about giving the audience what they wanted there...and he dropped a turd on us.

People are still puzzling and experiencing cognitive dissonance over that film. But it makes perfect sense- Lucas assumed that since Star Wars was dumb, all of its fans must be dumb, so he made a super-dumb film. He just miscalculated how dumb the fans truly were.

The emperor has no clothes.

No matter how much you love Star Wars, Lucas simply doesn't feel the same way. He sees it as an economic asset that purchased him an amazing life. He's grateful for what it's done for him- and he understands that it's his legacy- but he doesn't respect it at all.

So if/when you trash-talk Force Awakens, be aware that you're hating on a movie made by people that care about you and care about Star Wars more than George Lucas ever cared about you or any of his Star Wars films.

-Phony McFakename

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